page_title: Ommegang
section_title: Ommegang of Antwerp
hierarchical_section_title: Ommegang / Ommegang of Antwerp
context_page_description: Ommegang or Ommeganck is the generic name for various medieval pageants celebrated in the Low Countries.
context_section_description: The Ommegang in Antwerp originated in the 14th century and is held on 15 August.  There were two Ommegang processions held in Antwerp each year:
  the "Sinksenommegang": held on Pentecost Sunday
  the "Onze Lieve Vrouwommegang": the first Sunday after the Assumption of Mary (15 August).
  In the 15th, 16th and 17th century the Ommegang of Antwerp was the most important in Flanders.  The "Onze Lieve Vrouwommegang" consisted originally of two events: the first celebrated the religious feast of the Assumption of Mary.  The second was a large, opulent secular participation of the guilds, crafts and chambers of rhetoric, each of which contributed a float to a procession through the streets of Antwerp.  Some floats contained references to events of the preceding year.  There was considerable rivalry between the guilds in their efforts to provide the most splendid display.
  In the 17th century the Ommegang of Antwerp comprised these elements in the following order:
  the 27 Trades of Antwerp;
  "de Zottekens", comprising the mentally ill from the madhouse of Saint Rochus. Their participation was intended to promote their acceptance in society and to encourage the spectators to pray for their own mental health;
  four trumpets and a drum;
  the ship, originally made by the Guild of the skippers for the Joyous Entry of Charles V in 1549, symbolised the wealth of Antwerp;
  three small foreign ships and seamen carrying goods of these nations;
  the whale, in memory of a whale that swam up the Scheldt river and was killed by Antwerp citizens who extracted the whale oil from it. On the whale’s back sat a Cupid with a water spout, who sprinkled water on the crowd. In 1649 and 1662 Cupid was replaced by Orpheus, as can be seen in our painting; in 1685 and in 1698 by Neptune and in 1609 by Arion. The whale referred of course to the dangers at sea;
  two dolphins with two naked children sitting on top of them, referring to the dolphins habit of playing with children. Sabbe mentions that the bases of the whale and of the dolphins were decorated with paintings of fish (as can indeed be seen in our painting);
  the float of Neptune and Amphitrite;
  a sculpted elephant (remembering the first one that had arrived in Antwerp in 1563) with a sculpture of Fortuna on a globe, holding a veil. Just like the wind blowing the veil luck may change at any moment;
  the giant Druon Antigoon. the giant who according to Antwerp legend had his hand cut off by Antwerp's mythical hero Brabo;
  an entourage of childlike jumping male and female giants of foreign countries;
  Brabo and a group of young cavaliers;
  groups representing events that had occurred in the preceding year;
  a combination of Mount Parnassus with Apollo and of Mount Helicon with the Nine Muses and Pegasus;
  the float of the Virgins, originally representing Antwerp and the 17 Provinces of the Low Countries, later the beautiful young women of the town;
  a jumping, dancing blackamoor, holding a sword, leading a camel with a (Persian) prince;
  the important religious part of the procession with several floats;
  finally the clergy and the Guilds of the Fencers (in 1662 with Saint Michael holding the devil by a leach), of the Arquebusiers (with Saint Christopher carrying the infant Jesus), of the old and the young bow (with Saint Sebastian), of the old and the new crossbow (with Saint George and the dragon).
  The Ommegang in Antwerp has been depicted in several paintings by Antwerp artists such as Erasmus de Bie, Alexander van Bredael, Alexander Casteels the Younger and Pieter van Aelst.
caption: The Ommegang in Antwerp by Alexander van Bredael
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